I'm finally back to real work after a nice long new year's holiday rest. And it's about time. Of course I didn't stay exactly idle. I've thought long and hard about how to proceed with my writing life this year, and I've made a preliminary list. I'm sure I'll add more things in the weeks and months to come.
Keep slugging away at my novel revisions. I'm about to start Chapter Six only Twenty-one chapters to go. In other words I'm on page forty-one of one hundred and seventy-nine single-spaces pages. It's going to be a long haul.
Write blog pieces for Choices that are more about my writing work and writing advice for others.
Write for other websites: Naturally Savvy, Aging Bodies, and Cate Russell-Cole's CommuniCATE Resources for Writers website. I feel so honored that she asked me help her out while she works on her own memoir.
Write more poetry. In the last few months I've let my poetry writing go by the wayside in favor of working on my novel that's not good for my … [Read more...]

While I've been awaiting comments on my novel from my beta readers I've been editing poems and gathering photos to illustrate the poems from our trip to Africa last summer. I know I have a long way to go, but I thought I'd try a few out on you. Your comments are most welcome. And I hope you enjoy the photos.
Boni
A young person greets us at the airport
in a light blue and red
two-piece dress and hair
tied in long tight braids
at the back of his neck.
So many beads in primary colors
adorn his head, neck, wrists, and fingers,
at first I think he is a girl.
He introduces himself
as our guide Boni,
as he drives us to the lodge.
He will lead our game tours
during our stay in Kenya's Samburu district,
promising we'll see this area's big five:
lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos, and lions.
Boni's forte is tracking.
As he drives he looks out
the right side of our truck
for footprints and fresh dung
on the bumpy red dirt roads,
clues to which animals
we're … [Read more...]